April 17 (Bloomberg) -- The Singapore Armed Forces will
resume cooperation with its Indonesian counterpart after its
army chief apologized for the decision to name a navy ship after
marines who bombed a building on the island in 1965.

“The SAF will reciprocate General Moeldoko’s positive
intentions by resuming bilateral co-operation” and “strengthen
the mutual understanding and friendship that has been built up
over many decades,” Singapore’s Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen
said in a statement yesterday.

Tensions between the two nations escalated in February as
Singapore said it will bar the Usman-Harun warship from calling
at its ports and naval bases or taking part in joint military
exercises, after Indonesia’s top army officials skipped the
Singapore Airshow.

Moeldoko expressed regret over the naming of the Indonesian
warship and that no ill will was intended, he said in a Channel
NewsAsia interview this week. The apology is a “constructive
gesture” to improve bilateral defense ties between the two
countries, Ng said in the statement.

The Jakarta Post reported in February that Moeldoko said
Singapore should stop regarding the two marines as terrorists.